Đoàn Lê Minh Anh
When planning new content, marketing teams often need to answer two questions: Which topics are attracting readers, and which content is likely to earn backlinks? Ahrefs Content Explorer helps uncover popular articles by keyword or domain, giving businesses data to build a more informed content plan.
Instead of choosing topics based on gut feeling alone, you can use Ahrefs Content Explorer to review published content, its reach, and its backlink profile. This guide explains how to find content ideas by keyword and domain, then turn your research into practical SEO and backlink opportunities.
What is Ahrefs Content Explorer, and how can it help?
Ahrefs Content Explorer is a content research tool in the Ahrefs toolkit. Enter a topic, phrase, or domain to find relevant web pages, then review metrics such as estimated traffic, referring domains, publication date, and social shares, depending on the data available in the tool.
The tool’s main value isn’t providing a ready-made list of titles to copy. Instead, it helps you identify content that is performing well, understand how other websites cover a topic, and find pages that could be targets for backlink outreach. Treat this as information to guide decisions—not a guarantee that a new topic will rank or attract links.
Businesses can use the tool to support a range of tasks:
- Find topics and angles that show signs of reader interest.
- Analyze competitors’ content by industry or specific domain.
- Find pages with many backlinks and investigate why they are cited.
- Identify older content that could be updated, expanded, or refreshed.
- Build a list of potential websites for collaboration and link building.
How to find popular content by keyword
Start with a keyword that describes a topic your business wants to explore. It could be a broad phrase such as “sales management software” or a more specific one such as “how to choose sales management software for a small store.” A very broad phrase may return irrelevant content, while an overly narrow one may produce few results.
Enter your keyword in Content Explorer, select the appropriate search mode if the interface offers one, and review the results. Don’t focus on titles alone. Read the content and check its audience, publication date, and relevant metrics to understand why the page appears. An article with high traffic but few backlinks may offer ideas for a topic or format; one with many referring domains may point to a content asset worth citing.
To find ideas you can act on, group the results by search intent. For example, content about sales software might focus on how-to guides, solution comparisons, pricing, troubleshooting, or industry trends. Then compare these groups with your products, expertise, and customers’ frequently asked questions. The goal is to find the overlap between readers’ needs and the value your business can offer.
Try several keyword variations rather than relying on a single phrase. Use synonyms, questions, product category names, or phrases that describe customers’ problems. You can record titles, formats, publication dates, and notable metrics in a research spreadsheet for comparison. When you find a topic covered by many websites, look for gaps: What information is outdated? Which audiences are underserved? What questions do existing articles leave unanswered?
How to analyze competitors’ content by domain
Searching by domain is useful when you have identified a direct competitor or a website whose audience is similar to your target customers. Enter the domain to view related content pages, then sort by the metrics that fit your research goal. For example, if you want to find articles attracting traffic, prioritize estimated traffic data. If you’re looking for backlink opportunities, pay attention to the number and quality of referring domains.
Distinguish between a root domain and a specific URL if the tool lets you choose the scope. A domain-level analysis provides an overview of the topics a competitor invests in. Analyzing a specific page lets you focus on an individual article’s performance. As you research, note pages that perform especially well compared with other content on the same website. These are often worth investigating further for their topic, format, level of expertise, or promotion approach.
Next, open standout pages and look at what makes them distinctive: step-by-step instructions, survey data, tool roundups, downloadable templates, or expert perspectives. If the data is available, also check which pages link to the article. A page cited by many websites may offer original data, useful research, free resources, or information that is easy to reference. These elements can show businesses how to create useful, citable content instead of simply rewriting what already exists.
LilyTech can combine this research with your business’s content strategy and marketing goals, from structuring a website to planning SEO. Whether you implement the work in-house or partner with specialists, assess a website’s relevance, content quality, and ability to serve customers—not just a standout metric.
Turn data into content ideas and backlink opportunities
Data is only useful when you turn it into an action plan. After finding standout pages by keyword and domain, score each idea based on its relevance to your products, search demand, potential to stand out, production resources, and likelihood of being cited. A topic with strong interest may still be a poor choice if it doesn’t fit your target customers.
For each idea, define the audience, the main question, and the new value your article will provide. That value could be original data, real-world examples from Vietnam, an up-to-date guide, an easy-to-follow process, or expert insight. Avoid creating content that only changes the title and rephrases information from pages already ranking. Useful, trustworthy content serves readers and makes other websites more likely to cite it.
To find backlink opportunities, make a list of pages that already link to similar content. Assess whether each website is relevant to your industry, whether a link would benefit its readers, and whether your content has a compelling reason to be featured. Then personalize your outreach message: explain why your content is relevant, what makes it useful, and what you’re proposing. Avoid sending generic pitches or asking for a link without offering value to the recipient.
A simple process might include these steps:
- Choose a topic or domain to research and connect it to a business goal.
- Filter and record standout pages and their notable metrics.
- Read the content and review linking websites to identify what drives performance.
- Choose a content gap your business has the expertise and resources to address.
- Create distinctive content, then promote it and reach out to relevant websites.
- Track traffic, rankings, backlinks, and lead quality, and adjust as needed.
Tips for getting the most from Content Explorer
Metrics in SEO tools are usually estimates and can change over time. Estimated traffic is not the same as actual visits recorded in a website’s analytics system. Likewise, backlink counts don’t automatically reflect a page’s quality, relevance, or business value. Use metrics to filter results and guide your questions, then verify them manually before making decisions.
Consider the publication date and how recently the content was updated. An article that was once popular may rely on outdated information. Conversely, older content that continues to attract links may present an opportunity to create a newer, more complete, and more reliable version. When assessing backlinks, consider the context of the link, the website’s topic, page quality, and whether readers are likely to find it useful.
Finally, don’t make content or backlink volume your only goal. Businesses should prioritize content that supports the customer journey, builds expertise and trust, and contributes to long-term objectives. Ahrefs Content Explorer is a research tool; results depend on how you interpret the data, the quality of your content, and the consistency of your execution.
Conclusion
Ahrefs Content Explorer helps businesses discover popular content by keyword and domain, understand what makes competitors’ content effective, and identify pages that may lead to backlink opportunities. Combine the data with your knowledge of customers to develop relevant, distinctive content ideas with a clear basis for promotion.
If your business needs guidance on SEO, content development, or a structured backlink strategy, contact LilyTech for advice on solutions that fit your goals and available resources.
